CHOWCHILLA — A woman who has spent nearly two decades behind bars for her part in a 1998 robbery and killing — and who was sentenced to 62 years to life for the crime — is facing a Feb. 7 parole hearing after Gov. Jerry Brown commuted her sentence early last year.
Kimberly LaBore is hoping to convince a parole board that she is ready to be released from Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
LaBore was 27 at the time of the crime. She was convicted of killing Gaylord Chilcote, along with Sean Patrick Petznick, James Dotson and Gabriel Banes, on Nov. 17, 1998.
Prosecutors say the quartet invaded Chilcote’s Interlaken home, where they tied him up and then tortured and bludgeoned him before stabbing him to death.
The assailants stole cash, traveler’s checks, jewelry and watches. LaBore and Dotson fled to Florida, where they were later arrested after a shootout with police.
Chilcote’s relatives are planning to travel to Chowchilla to argue against LaBore’s release, far earlier than the original 2058 parole date they expected.
“We’re outraged that this was allowed to happen, and that her sentenced was commuted,” said Chilcote’s niece Heidi Murphy.
Chilcote’s nephew Don Ditlevsen said that LaBore has never accepted any responsibility for the crime.
Ditlevsen also pointed out that the group was also charged in the death of another unidentified man two weeks before the robbery, and that LaBore has never identified the man.
“Here you have a person who could get out on parole saying she’s rehabbed,” he said. “And I’m not sure there is any way to rehab a killer like her.”
